urbanSTL

Back in college, my friends and I would meet at Denny's by the airport at about 11 at night and take up a few tables in the back and drink coffee all night while we studied. We'd order food at some point, and make sure to tip the waitress well for her time. It was great for us to have a meeting place that didn't disrupt anyone's families or roommates.



That said, I have been known to stop at Courtesy at 3 am for some eggs and bacon after dancing all night.



That's the beauty of an all-night establishment. The variety of people you see. What's city living without a little noise?



Here in Minnesota all I ever hear are geese and crickets. It took weeks for me to get used to not hearing sirens and helicopters (our South City condo was very close to the flight path of the helicopters going to BJC). I can't wait to hear all of those city noises again. I say bring on the all night diner!

An all night diner is something that can help serve a neighborhood. Sure, you will get a few drunk folks. I've been drunk and gone to diners at 3 in the morning. But I've also been sober and done the same. I'd say I've done it more sober than not.

You know what I think brings more drunks than diners? Bars. But you don't want to know what I'd do to make sure those stay in town.

Plus, by 3AM it is unlawful to serve alcohol. Diners only give people a chance to sober up.

This on going conversation about "drunks" is ridiculous and annoying. Seriously, how small is the subset of drunks in comparison to the population??? First of all, not everyone that goes to a bar is a drunk. Second of all, not everyone that goes to a bar and is looking for some food afterwards is a drunk. Third of all, a high majority of people that do go to bars and drink a decent amount are still respectful, such as me and any peer I hang out with. Fourth of all, as stated in the aforementioned posts, not everyone looking for food at 3am is necessarily coming from a bar. Now that we've narrowed down the infinitesimal subset of a "disturbing drunk", it seems obtuse to say an all night diner is taxing to our DOWNTOWN CITY lives collectively. No matter where you go, there will be a couple of disrespectful people; drunk or sober. I bet all the other large, great cities have a big deferment in opening all-night diners because of the deliberation of an occasional drunk. (my last sentence contained sarcasm

In fact, I will proably be up all night studying for finals tonight and will probably get hungary at 3am...but there ain't crapola in West County for me to go get some grub. Yeeeeeeaaaaah, that all night diner sure would be nice!!!

Yes, I'm all for a diner as well! Always to grab food at anytime and at reasonable price. Plus, thing of this too....It's a great way to meet people in your neighborhood, even your own neighbors in the building. For example, you'll start to see regulars coming to the diners, and thus, it's a great way to meet friends, and it's a great social hangout. You'll see all kinds of people coming in, and that's all part of the fun of it. In the city, you have all sorts of people from all walks of life with all various interests and jobs and such. Surely, you'll meet some of the most interesting and even possibly some very influential people. Hey, and if this diner becomes popular....who knows....maybe even celebrities would come down to The Ventana to find out all about the hype of our diner (in our building!)...okay, well even if that didn't happen, still, i'm sure you get my point. You'll meet so many interesting people and make friends. Most importantly, it'd be a great way to meet your neighbors next door or on a different floor. Just walk on down to the diner. Fun stuff. Not only is it a great place to eat and meet people, but it's also very convenient. Even if the weather is super crappy outside and you don't feel like grabbing or your umbrella and braving the elements, heck...go right on downstairs to the diner. It will cheer you up, and I'm sure you'll not be the only down there passing away the time. Anyways, I love the diner idea. Making it a 24 hour diner would give it some great character. How cool would it be to have the first 24 hour diner and it's in our building!?! A diner would give the building personality. We are all fun people, right? So, we would choose to live in a loft with character and personality that would make each day be exciting and different. An art gallery would be mundane and boring, and each day, when we get back home from work, the art gallery would most likely be closed already for the day and the building would be lifeless....On the other hand, a diner .....Well you get the point...



Oh, and I also think that having an ATM in the building would be very very good, such as Bank of America.

Most of the criticism of Scrutinizer's comment is warranted. But really, I don't think of Washington as a harbinger of drunks anymore. It should be fairly upscale with nice restaurants and drinking establishments, etc. I think the more crazy stuff will be in the Landing.

trent wrote:

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:
I'll pass on the 24 hour diner idea. I don't particularly want drunks walking up and down Washington at 3:00am yelling.

I am sure everyone owning a loft in Ventana has got a copy of the lead paint disclosure form. I am not sure if my interpretation of that document (actually the addendum to the doc) is correct. What I "think" they are saying is that they found trace of lead paint (no surprise there), but do not see any place stating they are getting rid of it.



I think Joe is a lawyer and may have the best answer here. What exactly are Jacob group liable to do here and how does this affect any resales.

Just received an update from Jacob Development on The Ventana.

• - Interior walls on 8th floor are up and all of the trades are putting in the wiring, plumbing, ducts, etc.
  
  - 7th Floor is next!
  
  - The new windows will start showing up for installation.
  
  - Tuck pointing is almost finished on the outside. Terracotta repair on 1st floor is scheduled.
  
  - Open House walk thru of building scheduled for 5:30 pm May 12th. Contact Jill or Emily if you would like to join us. (314) 621-2226
  
  - Neighbors across 17th St. are starting to buy window treatments because they know people will be moving in soon.
  
  - UPGRADES: We are sooo close to start the upgrade selection process. We will be contacting residents for their selections.

urbanstlouis wrote:- Neighbors across 17th St. are starting to buy window treatments because they know people will be moving in soon.

Actually the King Bee residents have been putting up window treatments because Jacobs refuses to turn off the construction lights inside the building at night which shine directly into the windows across the street. The residents there have contact multiple people at Jacob and have gotten conflicting answers such as no problem to not our problem.

Here is what Emily from Jacob development said about the lead based paint:



I apologize for just now getting back to you; I was out of the office all day yesterday. In regards to the lead based paint, all lead based pain in the building will be removed or encapsulated. The very small amount left on the window sills will be encapsulated. Once all lead based paint in removed /encapsulated we will have our environmental contractor inspect the building and provide us with a report stating that they found no lead based paint. A copy of that report will be forwarded to all purchasers.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development has approved up to $625,000 in Brownfield Redevelopment Program remediation tax credits to help offset costs involved in the cleanup of asbestos and lead-based paint.



source:

http://www.ded.mo.gov/cgi-bin/dispress. ... essid=1644

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... ily66.html

Are any of you still planning on going to the walkthrough today?

I got the list for Upgrades for Unit I from Jacob development. Lots of options. The strangest one was for the bathroom tile upgrade for $15,800. Some type of mosaic tile.

bsharmastl wrote:I got the list for Upgrades for Unit I from Jacob development. Lots of options. The strangest one was for the bathroom tile upgrade for $15,800. Some type of mosaic tile.

Does Ventana give credits for standard finishes that you don't want? For example, if you did not like the standard dishwasher or dining room light, could you leave it out and take the credit?



BTW, I love that I floorplan!

OU812 wrote:

bsharmastl wrote:I got the list for Upgrades for Unit I from Jacob development. Lots of options. The strangest one was for the bathroom tile upgrade for $15,800. Some type of mosaic tile.

Does Ventana give credits for standard finishes that you don't want? For example, if you did not like the standard dishwasher or dining room light, could you leave it out and take the credit?



BTW, I love that I floorplan!

There are "some" options that have a credit if not chosen (refrigerator, microwave, etc).



I was torn between I and E. The North view made the decision easier (very open views from the balcony).

bsharmastl wrote:

OU812 wrote:

bsharmastl wrote:I got the list for Upgrades for Unit I from Jacob development. Lots of options. The strangest one was for the bathroom tile upgrade for $15,800. Some type of mosaic tile.

Does Ventana give credits for standard finishes that you don't want? For example, if you did not like the standard dishwasher or dining room light, could you leave it out and take the credit?



BTW, I love that I floorplan!

There are "some" options that have a credit if not chosen (refrigerator, microwave, etc).



I was torn between I and E. The North view made the decision easier (very open views from the balcony).

Yea, I originally had a reserve on the 6th floor I unit. Had I stayed with the Ventana that would have been my choice but decided to move on as I just needed more square footage and 2 bathrooms. I hope to get in someday to see how that floor plan turned out. Am sure it will be great.

This will make you smile. I have great news for all you buyers out there. I just looked at The Ventana website, and I noticed that they've updated their site again. The prices for the remaining available lofts have gone up. I think all the prices went up by about $6000 since the last time I checked. This is great. In like the past 3 months, the price already has gone up by $6000. That's really great, and we've made a return already and we still have 7-8 more months before we even move in. Can anyone verify what I have noticed?!?

Yeah I noticed it too. Very exciting. Hope sales turn out great during the Loft Tour...

OU812 wrote:

bsharmastl wrote:

OU812 wrote:

Does Ventana give credits for standard finishes that you don't want? For example, if you did not like the standard dishwasher or dining room light, could you leave it out and take the credit?



BTW, I love that I floorplan!

There are "some" options that have a credit if not chosen (refrigerator, microwave, etc).



I was torn between I and E. The North view made the decision easier (very open views from the balcony).

Yea, I originally had a reserve on the 6th floor I unit. Had I stayed with the Ventana that would have been my choice but decided to move on as I just needed more square footage and 2 bathrooms. I hope to get in someday to see how that floor plan turned out. Am sure it will be great.

The monthly loft tours have been excellent. The 8th floor studs have been put up, and you can actually start visualizing the finished loft.

Good news about fireplaces (well at least in my opinion). At first there was talk about all the units that owned fireplaces...our usage charges were going to be aggregated and then equally split up between all the fireplace owners. That is not true anymore....now each fireplace owner will be individually metered.

Received a mail from Jacob dev today. According to that, Lofts will be ready as early as Oct. I am supposed to go pick up my upgrades by June end.

According to Jacob Development:



- All the framing on 7th and 8th floor has been completed.

- Duct work, plumbing, and electric is finished on 8th floor. All of the teams are going to take the ?actual?.

- Window installation has started.

- Tuck pointing and exterior cleaning is finished on the outside of entire building. Terracotta repair on store front has been scheduled.

- The pool construction has started. Here is a rendering of what the rooftop pool will look like...

Are they not going to let any of the tenants in or around the the pool? They seem to be missing in the rendition

I work right next to the Ventana building, and although I've bought in the Ely Walker development, I must say that the new windows on the West side of the building look FANTASTIC.



It's amazing how these old, dingy, buildings come alive with new framing and windows installments.

I chose my upgrades and asked Jill to show me inside the Ventana. Here is what I saw:



The windows have been put in the south and west facing on the 2nd and 9th floors.

The inside is coming along GREAT. The studs are in on many floors.

The rooftop pool structure is in place. You GOT TO see this. It is much bigger and deeper than was originally provisioned.

The stairs and Elevators to the roof are now clearly marked. The building is in shape where you can start seeing everything fit in.

The upgrade prices are very competetive, except in the flooring and window shade sections. This may just be my perception though.

The Ventana will have the Electric cart that Jacob Development groups was using. They are donating it to the Association once the buildiung is turned over. DISCLAIMER...This is what was said by their sales staff and I have no way to confirm it. I do not doubt their current intention of doing this.